Thief in law Maksim Frantsuzov, better known in the criminal world as Frantsuz (the Russian for 'Frenchman'), was killed in Novaya Moskva. According to Life, the 26-year-old thief who renounced his title on camera, got thrown out of the window of the apartment where he was living. His body was found near the entrance. The doctors attested the ex-thief’s death.

Maksim Frantsuzov had been a well-known person in the underworld. Indeed, no titled thief in law would envy this kind of fame. Frantsuz posted a video in November 2013 where he was looking rather ill and said that he was renouncing the thieves’ 'crown'. It looked discrediting and provocative, sources say, and it seemed that the 23-year-old man did not have enough strength or courage to "confront the system." Having weighed his strength against the remaining term, Frantsuz decided that the crown was too heavy for him, according to the sources.

There was an assassination attempt on Frantsuz in July 2015, that time he got four gunshot wounds. It happened in the town of Moskovsky. An unknown man ran up to Frantsuzov who was standing near his house and shot him four times. The thief was taken to the nearest hospital with injured cheekbone, lower back and ankle.

Video: Witnesses of Frantsuz’s assassination tell what they saw

The shooter was a man of Slavic appearance, dressed in a sports sweatshirt and shorts. Interestingly, the killer was clearly trying to protect himself as he put a plastic bag on the gun, according to our sources, so that no liners would be left at the crime scene. By the way, the killer also hit a Lexus parked near the house.

As for the motives behind the assassination, based on the criminal way of life that Frantsuz had been leading even after he was apparently forced to renounce the thief status, we may assume that he had rivals who sent the armed hitman. Perhaps the attempted murder of Frantsuzov was part of the fight for criminal influence.

CrimeRussia’s sources gave more specific assumptions. It turned out that shortly before what had happened, Frantsuzov had had a conflict with thief in law Kahaber Parpalia, nicknamed in the criminal world as Kakha Galsky. There are reports that Frantsuz openly declared that he did not know him as a thief. It was somewhat odd to hear things like that coming from Frantsuzov. After all, he was the one who "renounced the thieves’ lifestyle" for the camera. Many condemned young Maksim’s gesture, while others remarked on signs of torture that could be seen in the video.

Moreover, there is a version that Frantsuzov paid his price for trying to create a criminal gang in Novaya Moskva that would be covering up prostitution.

Frantsuzov was given the thief’s title in absentia while he was serving his prison term. Gela Kardava became his godfather. Once he got released in 2014, Frantsuzov went to Vasya Voskres who had an enormous clout and tried to explain that the harsh conditions of the Khakass colony had forced him to do what he did, but this did not help him to regain the crown.